Are You a Digital Guru or Luddite?

PwC, formerly known as PricewaterhouseCoopers, has developed a digital fitness assessment app, which allows an employee to take a 10-minute test, resulting in a fitness score. The app, being rolled out to PwC clients this year, bases the score on four categories—mindset, behavior, relationships, and skills. It’s a way to test an individual’s capacity to survive the “digital revolution.” “Most CEOs are worried their workforce doesn’t have the digital skills they need,” says Tyson Cornell, a PwC private company services advisory leader.

For example, Cornell says, an employee may have a decent understanding of social media channels, such as Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram. Though “there is awareness, they may not be practicing or applying skills,” he says.

The app allows people to assess their own competency and behavior in applying digital skills, but Cornell says one of the major benefits is customized training that is broken into “bite-size chunks.” Instead of sending an employee off to a four-hour training session, individuals can learn by watching videos or reading material in five-minute increments. This approach, he says, “creates the curiosity to learn more.”

Cornell emphasizes the app is not just for front-line employees or middle managers. “Senior leadership needs to increase digital literacy before they can identify what the rest of the company may need,” he says. When digital fitness improves across an organization, he adds, “they can be using digital more effectively for streamlining processes and improving decision-making.”

Cornell, based in Chicago, says PwC has been talking to several Minnesota companies about contracting for the use of the app, but he would not disclose names.

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